Theme Park Worldwide Announce Australian Tour

[Dean Barnett]

I know you shouldn't really compare them but I went to Six Flags Magic Mountain this time last year.. middle of winter and in their clear off season.

Every ride bar 2 were open all day - Superman Escape and their drop ride opened at 1pm. 

I honestly don't know what takes Australian parks so long. Imagine if splash moutain closed for 2 months every year...

[Brad2912]

1 hour ago, Dean Barnett said:

 

I know you shouldn't really compare them

 

Yep, good place to start, and finish.  

 

1 hour ago, Dean Barnett said:

but

All down hill from here

 

1 hour ago, Dean Barnett said:

Imagine if splash moutain closed for 2 months every year...

People would be annoyed, but so they should be when you are talking about a park makings millions of dollars a week owned and run by a company worth tens of billions, with access to basically unlimited funds, a population pool of over 250m people to hire skilled workers from, and with the manufacturers of your rides not a 20+ hour flight away, or potentially months away when parts are needed 

[Naazon]

21 minutes ago, Brad2912 said:

People would be annoyed, but so they should be when you are talking about a park makings millions of dollars a week owned and run by a company worth tens of billions, with access to basically unlimited funds, a population pool of over 250m people to hire skilled workers from, and with the manufacturers of your rides not a 20+ hour flight away, or potentially months away when parts are needed 

Ah mannnn. You forgot lower labor costs!

[Dean Barnett]

I can’t even think of a low tier park on the whole planet that does has much maintenance periods as ours.

You can’t go to our parks during peak periods because the lines are way too long, but you also can’t go in off peak because half of the rides are closed. 😕 

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

13 hours ago, REGIE said:

Well maybe TPWW have a point. Visiting parks in peak season is not always a bad thing

Especially if the park provides you with free fast track \ skip the queue passes.

13 hours ago, Dean Barnett said:

I know you shouldn't really compare them but I went to Six Flags Magic Mountain this time last year.. middle of winter and in their clear off season.

Every ride bar 2 were open all day - Superman Escape and their drop ride opened at 1pm. 

I honestly don't know what takes Australian parks so long. Imagine if splash moutain closed for 2 months every year...

You are aware that SFMM only moved to 365 day operations in about 2018, and as of November 2022, they have reverted to closing during off-peak midweek periods again?

It's pretty easy to keep your rides up on operating days if they're closed for 42% of the operating week. You'd be better off comparing our parks to Disney, open 365 - and most of the big Disney attractions have downtime for at least a month a year. (And don't forget downtime to add and remove overlays too)

source

[New display name]

51 minutes ago, DaptoFunlandGuy said:

Especially if the park provides you with free fast track \ skip the queue passes.

You and I should start our own blog just to get free shit.

We will call it "Dapto & Wally's ins and outs".  👍

[New display name]

6 hours ago, Dean Barnett said:

I can’t even think of a low tier park on the whole planet that does has much maintenance periods as ours.

It's clearly a cost cutting exercise.  DW reduce hours during the week to save money, village extends ride downtimes to save money.  It really isn't a big deal.

[Dean Barnett]

1 hour ago, DaptoFunlandGuy said:

You are aware that SFMM only moved to 365 day operations in about 2018, and as of November 2022, they have reverted to closing during off-peak midweek periods again?

Yes I am aware - and I'd prefer our parks to move away from 365 day operations if more rides were available more often - and park guests have a more similar experience year round - and even the possibility of longer operating hours. Luna park Sydney was 365 day operation once. 

 

 

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

I don't think it's in our parks best interests to have offpeak closures or midweek closures despite your preferences. 

Our maintenance requirements mean rides would still be closed on those opening days, because maintenance for the bigger attractions takes longer than 3-4 days.

[Dean Barnett]

It doesn't take 3-4 days - it also doesn't take 2-3 months either. @New display name probably hit the nail on the head.. cost cutting. 

[REGIE]

Even that reviewtyme podcast gets free fast track

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

1 hour ago, REGIE said:

Even that reviewtyme podcast gets free fast track

Like a lot of other things you post here, you're talking crap - but i'd love for you to explain why you think this is the case?

[Naazon]

2 hours ago, Dean Barnett said:

It doesn't take 3-4 days - it also doesn't take 2-3 months either. @New display name probably hit the nail on the head.. cost cutting. 

Look at Mr Engineering degree and regulatory expert over here

[REGIE]

3 hours ago, New display name said:

16 minutes ago, DaptoFunlandGuy said:

Like a lot of other things you post here, you're talking crap - but i'd love for you to explain why you think this is the case?

On their America trip the parks were nice enough to give them entry and some gave them a fast track. I was not saying this a bad thing 

 

3 hours ago, New display name said:

You and I should start our own blog just to get free shit.

We will call it "Dapto & Wally's ins and outs".  👍

I was replying to this post but forgot to quote 

Edited February 7, 2023 by REGIE

[Dean Barnett]

2 minutes ago, REGIE said:

On their America trip the parks were nice enough to give them entry and some gave them a fast track. I was not saying this a bad thing 

The difference is anyone can purchase that fast track pass in american parks.. the pass they got is impossible for anyone to buy.

[pin142]

2 hours ago, Dean Barnett said:

The difference is anyone can purchase that fast track pass in american parks.. the pass they got is impossible for anyone to buy.

What pass that you can't buy did reviewtyme get?

[Vidgamer]

I believe Theme Park World Wide got unlimited fast track, this isn't possible to buy anymore, as Village sells only the 'one shot' fast passes (only one fast track per ride).

[New display name]

When @Dean Barnettthinks of the perks TPWW received.  🤣

[Dean Barnett]

39 minutes ago, Vidgamer said:

I believe Theme Park World Wide got unlimited fast track, this isn't possible to buy anymore, as Village sells only the 'one shot' fast passes (only one fast track per ride).

Correct. Unlimited fast track and backwards access in each park.

[Gobbledok]

VIP privileges are nothing new or to be outraged by. Well unless you’re jealous to not be considered one. 
It’s fairly common for celebrities, industry people and good for publicity guests to be given this sort of perk. 
It has no measurable impact on the other park guests and is good for business. 

[REGIE]

One thing I don’t understand is why most rides won’t let these people film on ride. They have fully Secure GoPro’s on their chests so it seems weird to not allow it for the YouTubers . It’s great for business. Especially rides like what Luna park Melbourne has. Why can’t they even film on the ghost train! I just don’t understand it  

[Naazon]

39 minutes ago, REGIE said:

One thing I don’t understand is why most rides won’t let these people film on ride. They have fully Secure GoPro’s on their chests so it seems weird to not allow it for the YouTubers . It’s great for business. Especially rides like what Luna park Melbourne has. Why can’t they even film on the ghost train! I just don’t understand it  

The issue is, who says its fully secure. If the park takes that risk then they are making a big risk for anyone off ride + damage to the ride its self. We don't know the specific nuances of the parks liability insurance, which more than likely has some form of wording about not taking items onto the rides. I've seen many liability insurance policies in my time working in insurance and it can be very very detailed.*

The reason they were able to film DC Rivals was because the park could take the time before opening to ensure the security of the device without impact to paying guests.

 

*Only because @REGIE will ask, no idea if my company insures theme parks. Never looked, don't care to and too busy. I do know we have (maybe still) done some work with Australia Zoo in the past, but I don't believe that was liability.

[Brad2912]

You really want to slow down loading even further while ride ops check the security of GoPro mounts etc? 
 

no thanks

[Dean Barnett]

Some parks use a wristband to verify a wriststrap / chest mount has been checked. Just an idea.

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

2 minutes ago, Dean Barnett said:

Some parks use a wristband to verify a wriststrap / chest mount has been checked. Just an idea.

I had my Son height checked at a park recently. In addition to putting a wristband on him with his height, they wrote down his name and DOB as well as the height measured and the date. 

I asked why so much detail, and apparently it is because they've had situations of parents getting wristbands off one kid, and putting it on another, smaller kid. Ride ops can still send height-checked kids back to GS if they think the kid is too short.

How easy would it be to have a camera mount checked, and then swap it for another one. Or maybe they take it off for lunch and then don't put it on in the same secure fashion that it was when it was checked?

No. No fucking wristbands. No fucking turnstiles. No removing the RFID scanning system on Steel Taipan. This is Australia. Not the USA, not Europe. Or anywhere else in the world. NOBODY CARES what they do overseas because overseas might tolerate 1 injury a year, we have ZERO TOLERANCE on ANYONE getting hurt.

Because what happens when someone DOES get hurt is the entire fucking industry gets the screws tightened, forcing people to do things like "no tissues allowed" and "RFIDs on rollercoasters".

Any level of risk is unacceptable, and no amount of "some parks do this" from you is going to change anything.